Band Members:
James Hetfield - lead vocals, rhythm guitars
Kirk Hammett - lead guitars
Robert Trujillo - bass
Lars Ulrich - drums

Former Members:
Dave Mustaine - guitars
Ron McGovney - bass
Cliff Burton - bass
Jason Newsted - bass

quote wikipedia

Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper, Metallica's original line-up consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, and bassist Ron McGovney. These last two were later replaced from the band, in favor of Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton, respectively. In September 1986, Metallica's tour bus skidded out of control and flipped, which resulted in Burton being crushed under the bus and killed. Jason Newsted replaced him less than two months later. Newsted left the band in 2001 and was replaced by Robert Trujillo in 2003.

Metallica's early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the "Big Four" of the thrash metal subgenre alongside Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community, and some critics say the 1986 release Master of Puppets is one of the most influential and "heavy" thrash metal albums. The band achieved substantial commercial success with its self-titled 1991 album, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Some critics and fans believed the band changed its musical direction to appeal to the mainstream audience. With the release of Load in 1996, Metallica distanced itself from earlier releases in what has been described as "an almost alternative rock approach", and the band faced accusations of "selling out".

In 2000, Metallica was among several artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band's copyright-protected material for free without the band members' consent. A settlement was reached, and Napster became a pay-to-use service. Despite reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger in 2003 disappointed some critics and fans with the exclusion of guitar solos, and the "steel-sounding" snare drum. A film titled Some Kind of Monster documented the recording process of St. Anger.

Metallica has released eight studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, twenty-two music videos, forty-two singles and has finished working on its upcoming ninth studio album, Death Magnetic. The band has become one of the most commercially successful and influential heavy metal acts. With 90 million records sold worldwide, including 57 million in the United States, the band has won seven Grammy Awards, and has had four albums peak at number one on the Billboard 200. The band's 1991 album, Metallica, has sold over 15 million copies, which makes it the 25th highest selling album in the United States.

Discography:

1983 - Kill 'Em All

1. Hit The Lights
2. The Four Horsemen
3. Motorbreath
4. Jump In The Fire
5. (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth
6. Whiplash
7. Phantom Lord
8. No Remorse
9. Seek & Destroy
10. Metal Militia

1984 - Ride The Lightning

1. Fight Fire With Fire
2. Ride The Lightning
3. For Whom The Bell Tolls
4. Fade To Black
5. Trapped Under Ice
6. Escape
7. Creeping Death
8. The Call Of Ktulu

1986 - Master Of Puppets

1. Battery
2. Master Of Puppets
3. The Thing That Should Not Be
4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
5. Disposable Heroes
6. Leper Messiah
7. Orion
8. Damage, Inc.

1988 - ...And Justice For All

1. Blackened
2. ...And Justice For All
3. Eye Of The Beholder
4. One
5. The Shortest Straw
6. Harvester Of Sorrow
7. To Live Is To Die
8. Dyers Eve

1991 - Metallica

1. Enter Sandman
2. Sad But True
3. Holier Than Thou
4. The Unforgiven
5. Wherever I May Roam
6. Don't Tread On Me
7. Through The Never
8. Nothing Else Matters
9. Of Wolf And Man
10. The God That Failed
11. My Friend Of Misery
12. The Struggle Within

1993 - Live Shit: Binge & Purge

Disc One:
1. The Ecstasy Of Gold / Enter Sandman
2. Creeping Death
3. Harvester Of Sorrow
4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
5. Sad But True
6. Of Wolf And Man
7. The Unforgiven
8. Eye Of The Beholder / Blackened / The Frayed Ends Of Sanity / ...And Justice For All
9. Bass Solo / Guitar Solo

Disc Two:
1. Through The Never
2. For Whom The Bell Tolls
3. Fade To Black
4. Master Of Puppets
5. Seek & Destroy
6. Whiplash

Disc Three:
1. Nothing Else Matters
2. Whever I May Roam
3. Am I Evil?
4. Last Caress
5. One
6. So What? / Battery
7. The Four Horsemen
8. Motorbreath
9. Stone Cold Crazy

1996 - Load

1. Ain't My Bitch
2. 2x4
3. The House Jack Built
4. Until It Sleeps
5. King Nothing
6. Hero Of The Day
7. Bleeding Me
8. Cure
9. Poor Twisted Me
10. Wasting My Hate
11. Mama Said
12. Thorn Within
13. Ronnie
14. The Outlaw Torn

1997 - ReLoad

1. Fuel
2. The Memory Remains
3. Devil's Dance
4. The Unforgiven II
5. Better Than You
6. Slither
7. Carpe Diem Baby
8. Bad Seed
9. Where The Wild Things Are
10. Prince Charming
11. Low Man's Lyric
12. Attitude
13. Fixxxer

1998 - Garage, Inc.

Disc One:
1. Free Speech For The Dumb
2. It's Electric
3. Sabbra Cadabra
4. Turn The Page
5. Die, Die My Darling
6. Loverman
7. Mercyful Fate
8. Astronomy
9. Whiskey In The Jar
10. Tuesday's Gone
11. The More I See

Disc Two:
1. Helpless
2. The Small Hours
3. The Wait
4. Crash Course In Brain Surgery
5. Last Caress / Green Hell
6. Am I Evil?
7. Blitzkrieg
8. Breadfan
9. The Prince
10. Stone Cold Crazy
11. So What?
12. Killing Time
13. Overkill
14. Damage Case
15. Stone Dead Fever
16. Too Late Too Late

1999 - S&M

Disc One:
1. The Ecstasy Of Gold
2. The Call Of Ktulu
3. Master Of Puppets
4. Of Wolf And Man
5. The Thing That Should Not Be
6. Fuel
7. The Memory Remains
8. No Leaf Clover
9. Hero Of The Day
10. Devil's Dance
11. Bleeding Me

Disc Two:
1. Nothing Else Matters
2. Until It Sleeps
3. For Whom The Bell Tolls
4. Human
5. Wherever I May Roam
6. The Outlaw Torn
7. Sad But True
8. One
9. Enter Sandman
10. Battery

2003 - St. Anger

1. Frantic
2. St. Anger
3. Some Kind Of Monster
4. Dirty Window
5. Invisible Kid
6. My World
7. Shoot Me Again
8. Amber
9. The Unnamed Feeling
10. Purify
11. All Within My Hands

2008 - Death Magnetic

1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End Of The Line
3. Broken, Beat & Scarred
4. The Day That Never Comes
5. All Nightmare Long
6. Cyanide
7. The Unforgiven III
8. The Judas Kiss
9. Suicide & Redemption
10. My Apocalypse

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The other one reached 30+ pages so continue here.

Anything after the Black Album (bar S&M) I think is pretty bad- production and songwriting wise. This is probably the view of about 75% of Metallica fans, I'm aware.

Never really been a big fan though to be fair. Master of Puppets is a pretty awesome album, but then you have Slayer and Megadeth...

Never been big on Slayer or Megadeth.

I do agree MoP is balls though; Orion is probably my favorite song out of their whole discography.

Matallica are the kind of band that I just listen to for the guitar solos really, apart from the stand out songs like The Day That Never Comes, Enter Sandman & One

quote KujasSilverDragon

I do agree MoP is balls though; Orion is probably my favorite song out of their whole discography.

I have never heard something good described as 'balls' before. Typo?

But yeah, Orion is made of win. My favourite song is still Creeping Death though, and Ride The Lightning my favourite album.

Now I haven't heard much Megadeth but from what I have heard I think Metallica is a lot better, although maybe I'm just listening to the wrong stuff.

quote Taker4ever

I have never heard something good described as 'balls' before. Typo?

lol.

quote Taker4ever

I have never heard something good described as 'balls' before. Typo?

Dogs balls, or bollocks are usually to describe something good, get to know.

Listened to Death Craptatic the other day, and was reminded of why Metallica makes my mother cry.

quote TheSombrero

That's what you say now. Wait til' you've heard Countdown, Peace Sells and Rust in Peace.

I listen to PSBWB alot and I have to say it's not as good as any of the Metallica albums I have (which is everything other than Load and ReLoad). It's still really good though.

I think I changed my mind about which Metallica album is my favorite. Instead of Master Of Puppets, I think I'm going to go with S&M.

quote Red Steel

I listen to PSBWB alot and I have to say it's not as good as any of the Metallica albums I have (which is everything other than Load and ReLoad). It's still really good though.

It's a lot better than most Metallica albums actually.

quote think of something

Listened to Death Craptatic the other day, and was reminded of why Metallica makes my mother cry.

Cue butthurt Metallica fanboys.

quote think of something

Dogs balls, or bollocks are usually to describe something good, get to know.

I know that. But it's written like "the dogs bollocks" or "the balls". If you just describe something as "balls" it doesn't mean the same.

But yeah, tangent over...

Live Light, I just recently bought S&M. I love the idea, but I feel that for metal and orchestra to work together, it has to be original compositions. It feels forced in a lot of the songs I think, and only really works for a select few (like One, Nothing Else Matters and For Whom The Bell Tolls. Both the original compositions though, -Human and No Leaf Clover, are epic.